Me Too, Me Too

Last week they were talking about laying off 52,000 people, and then we find out this weekend they are being bailed out with our tax dollars.

Federal regulators approved a radical plan to stabilize Citigroup in an arrangement in which the government could soak up billions of dollars in losses at the struggling bank, the government announced late Sunday night.

The complex plan calls for the government to back about $306 billion in loans and securities and directly invest about $20 billion in the company. The plan, emerging after a harrowing week in the financial markets, is the government’s third effort in three months to contain the deepening economic crisis and may set the precedent for other multibillion-dollar financial rescues.

Did anyone ask you before they lent your money out, again?  I understand the fears… if one of these big companies collapses the effects on our economy would likely be devastating.  I’m not sure if that is true, by the way… but isn’t the economy pretty much devastated regardless?  The stock market is down around 47% over the last year… businesses are closing everywhere… people are losing their homes to foreclosure, etc.  How is bailout out CitiGroup going to change that?  It doesn’t seem like AIG’s bailouts have made my life easier, nor has the rest of the $700Billion.  And how can you continue to bailout all of these financial companies and tell the car companies to stick it?

When does it stop?

We were driving back from Asheville Friday and passed a huge Citi building overlooking I-40 near Greensboro.  A huge banner running along the entire length of the building read “Citi We’re Hiring”.  We were just hearing about Citi wanting to buy Wachovia.  A large Citi Call Center advertises with a huge bold banner that it is hiring… and we need to spend $326 Billion dollars to bail them out?

As long as we continue to reward bad business and the American people have no control over the money our government is throwing out hand over fist then our economy can never recover.  We cannot continue to have a socialist response to a capitalist economy.  Only one system will work or its going to continue to get worse.  Someone needs to have the backbone to make a choice, and socialism or endless government handouts are not it.